The principle I have chosen is “the impresa” because I believe it is a fundamental principle in order to understand Agrippa’s work. It is only by learning about the magnitude of Agrippa’s mission that one can learn the treatise in depth. Only with the knowledge of the context and the difficulties can one appreciate this reading more. By putting oneself in Camillus Agrippa’s shoes, one can learn more about the study he undertook and the difficulties he encountered while carrying out this undertaking. If we look back to Agrippa’s time, the undertaking he planned, which was to build an obelisk in St Peter’s Square, is extremely difficult. It was a huge undertaking and not easy to complete. In fact, they did not have the machinery, the knowledge or any other facilities that we have today. Nowadays, Agrippa’s feat may be underestimated, as many things are taken for granted. However, one has to take into account several aspects, both concerning the time (e.g. the difficulty in building practice) and Agrippa as a person (e.g. his education). Agrippa, who found the most congenial solution, presented an extensive study with a scale model of all the necessary transport equipment. According to his plan, the obelisk was to be moved to a vertical position, thus avoiding the need to pull it down and lift it up again. With this work, Agrippa again demonstrated his great ability. He was in fact a very important figure of the Renaissance: he can be defined as the perfect image of the Renaissance ‘engineer’. According to a document preserved in the archives of the Vicariate of Santa Maria del Popolo, Camillo Agrippa was registered at his burial as: “Magnificus Dominus excellens peritus ac sapiens Architectus”. “Magnificus Dominus”, title of recognition of intellectual nobility (camillus was not a nobleman by birth); “excellens peritus”, title of recognition of his excellent technical expertise; and “sapiens Architectus”, a phrase that marks the sequence of the title. Camillus Agrippa is by no means a character to be forgotten, as he carried out numerous feats, studies and treaties, many of them very difficult. Agrippa was such an important figure in engineering that they even dedicated a coin to him in honour of his many achievements. However, Camillo Agrippa, in spite of his countless important studies, belongs to that circle of people who are scarcely remembered, or in any case excluded from the spotlight of ‘main stream’ historical research and too often confined to the sphere of narrow academic studies.